Andrei Lapenas, an associate professor of climatology at the University at Albany, led a study on how trees are adapting to global warming and found that the typical shape of trees in Russian forests underwent significant transformation in the latter half of the 20th century.

The trees are adapting to climate changes brought on by industrialization in the Northern Hemisphere and, according to Lapenas, the forests' diminishing ability to absorb greenhouse gases means that global warming will come sooner than previously thought.

The research, which initially appeared in Global Change Biology, was featured in Natural History Magazine (March, 2006).